Two of our children had birthdays last week. In honor of the now 4-year old's special day, and because of the free kid's meal coupon from their birthday club, our celebration took us back to
2 Toots Train Whistle Grill. Since we had just been to the Glen Ellyn restaurant last week, we decided to try the second and newest location in Bartlett.
It was a good choice. The Bartlett
2 Toots serves food just as tasty as the Glen Ellyn store and every seat in the house here, too, is trackside for meal delivery via model train. The decor is similar in both restaurants. Train pictures and memoriablia cover almost every inch of the walls, even in the bathrooms. A TV in the corner runs a Thomas the Tank Engine video constantly. My six-year old votes for Bartlet for his favorite of the two places, though. Bartlett's 2 Toots has enormous windows overlooking the the
Metra station and tracks across the street. There's also a large mirror on the back wall for those facing away from the windows during their meal. Though I think it's safe to assume that it's out of
2 Toots hands which engines run on the Milwaukee District West Line, my son was thrilled by seeing not one, not two, but three new Metra engines while we ate. Near as I can tell it's the
MP36PH-3S if you were wondering. We don't often see that particular engine on the lines closer to our home, so that alone made the trip worthwhile for him. For the birthday girl, the cupcake and train whistle that rounded the restaurant track just for her made the day pretty okay, too. We noticed the baby, who hasn't started waving to people yet, did an awful lot of waving to the train every time in came out of the kitchen. Aside from Mom and Dad trying to shake the oldies tunes from our heads once we left, everyone had a fine time.
After our dinner, we crossed the street to peek in the windows of the
Metra station and the
Bartlett Depot Museum. Both were closed for the day when we were there, but having them so close makes Bartlett a good choice for a fuller train outing during lunchtime. Thankfully, it's a no-horn zone for the railroad, so noise isn't an issue for my little ones' sensitive ears. Another possible source of noise would be from the local fire department's station across the street from 2 Toots. All was well and quiet while we were there, though. Trains, fire trucks, food! It's kid heaven.
(Grown ups, take a peek at the renovation photos of the 1873
Bartlett Depot Museum on their website. The entire structure needed to be lifted to pour a new foundation. Impressive project and fine results!)
I admit it. I am a history nerd. It is with great joy that I make my family take side trips to see historical markers whenever possible. So, during a rare lunch out with just my husband (We love grandparents; yes we do!) I couldn't resist checking out the old limestone train station just down the road. We were in Lemont, a town I lived in briefly and love for its historical charm. Lemont grew as workers on the Illinois & Michigan Canal settled in the area from the 1830s onward. The rock discovered during excavations there, once known as "Athens marble" after the town's original name, became a fixture in building local structures of every size and purpose. Ultimately, railroad lines played a key role in transporting workers and shipping goods to and from the Chicago area. These days Lemont's little station serves commuters taking Metra's Heritage Corridor line during the workweek, but during its long history it has witnessed Lincoln's funeral train, a violent labor strike, soldiers heading off to war, and speeches from national leaders. Even though this building is "just" a little train station, it's perfect place to sneak in a little history lesson: "Hey, let's go look at the station. Look at this! Did you know that people stood here to watch Abraham Lincoln's funeral train pass on its way to Springfield?" History sinks in to kids minds a bit at a time here and there as we read books and they hear lessons. Those stories start to stick, though, when we can give them pieces of real history to see and touch. 
Do you remember that old jingle, "Phone first ..."? That tune popped into my head as the kids hopped out of the car at The Museums at Lisle Station Park and shouted, "Mom, there's a sign that says it's closed." Hmm. You know, a note taped to a window that briskly says, "Sorry for the inconvenience" doesn't really appease a car-load of kids, especially the one who had his heart set on seeing the model railroad layout on the inside of the farmhouse. So, I can't report much about what Lisle has to offer our young train fans other than the small museum campus has this to tease when the doors are locked: an 1881 caboose and a depot from 1875. (The other structures are a farmhouse, tavern/inn and a blacksmith shop.) Nice, but not quite enough to call the afternoon a success, so on to Plan B. 
We moved up the road a bit to another model railroad display, this one at the DuPage County Historical Museum in downtown Wheaton. The majority of the museum's basement is given to an HO-gauge layout with over 2,000 feet of track and numerous small-scale recreations of local landmarks. Again, we weren't there on quite the right day. Selected Saturdays throughout the year members of the DuPage Society of Model Engineers run the trains for visitors. Alas, we arrived on a Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully, one train can be activated to run independently by the push of a button and there are plenty of scenery details to study from the large viewing windows. There's also a kid-sized train play table and displays on the history of railroads in DuPage County.
After a delectable ice cream dessert at the Batavia Creamery, we inevitably find ourselves walking a few short blocks to the Batavia Depot Museum. Most of our ice cream stops are usually after dinner, so we don't often get to peek inside the depot, which is open select afternoons. The highlight, though, is the caboose outside. Climbing the steps to "ride" the rails never gets old. The kids always point out the signal and water tower that are next to the station. Since the depot is sandwiched between Batavia's depot pond and riverwalk and the Fox River Trail, there's plenty of people watching for Mom, Dad and Baby while the kids are imagining their engineer adventures. On days that we aren't craving something sweet, the Popcorn Depot just a block south of the caboose offers delicious homemade popcorn to munch while enjoying the sights.
